But Olympic anthem-writers Muse seem to be referring to some other phenomena in their just-revealed track. (It’s called “Unsustainable,” obvs.) And in a promo video for the song — a proper sampling of their Oct. 2 record, The 2nd Law — we’re blasted with images of a post-apocalyptic world, interspersed with a lot of b-roll that’d be equally useful in conspiracy theory documentary: flashing stock tickers and brain scans and TV news hits.

As for the song itself, there’s much to suggest classic Muse — namely the tune’s melodramatic mix of orchestral bombast and guitar-rock. But the bass drops about 90 seconds in, giving the proceedings a caustic EDM twist.

More surprising: this one’s nearly all-instrumental. Lead singer Matt Bellamy is barely present on the song, unless that’s him repeating the word “Unsustainable” through a vocoder. But we’d prefer to think that’s being handled by Muse’s new, unofficial fourth member: the evil robot that appears throughout the clip. (Anyone else think he could be a close cousin of Alphie? Or Deadmau5?)

For months, Muse fans have known that the follow-up to 2009’s The Resistance would have a certain je ne sais wub-wub-wub; in June, the band revealed an album trailer for The 2nd Law, which features much of the same footage as this new “Unsustainable” clip, as well as a significant snippet of the song itself. NMEnotes that anyone who pre-ordered The 2nd Law was given a download of “Unsustainable” last night, though the outlet reports that the song is not an official single. The next such release is expected to be “Madness,” which will drop in the UK August 20.

As reported yesterday, Muse say that they’ll be playing the Olympic Closing Ceremony Sunday.